On the Cloud Web services: A Review

Abstract

Cloud Computing is a constantly evolving IT generic term used to refer to various IT solutions and services provided via the internet. Precisely, cloud computing can be said to be  the  delivery of scalable IT resources over the Internet, as opposed to hosting and operating those resources locally; these resources can include applications and services, as well as the infrastructure on which they operate (EDUCAUSE 2009). So instead of spending money on applications and hardware, individuals and businesses have access to same resources without the commitment of ownership to vendors who provide on-demand services such as Customer Relationship Management (CRM), off-site storage, hosted email solutions, secure web portals, etc. Despite some seemingly security challenges that confront total adoption of Cloud computing by business organizations and educational institutions, the benefits of using services provided by Cloud technology still outweigh the perceived challenges. It is the aim of this paper to present an expository review of services that can run on the cloud thereby providing excellent opportunities for business groups and academics institutions. The paper also provides a contribution to the propagation of the adoption of cloud technology.